The phone rang, and it was my best friend. We’ve known each other since the third grade, and it was time for our daily phone call. We started talking about what we were doing that day, events that were coming up that week with our kids, and a frustration or two from the day before.

The conversation continued on to other topics, and as I was telling her a story I said, “You know, she’s the one who had an affair with him and now they’re married with two children. Do you remember?”

The moment the words slid out of my mouth, as nonchalantly as my update on what we had for breakfast, the Holy Spirit pierced my heart. There it was again. Gossip and slander sliding between my lips without any thought until it was too late.

Every now and again I’ll get asked to give a presentation at some industry event or another, or to write an article.

Such requests never fail to massage my ego, regardless of how loudly I tell myself that I’m only being asked because 1) they asked everyone else and have been turned down, and 2) there’s a gaping hole in their program/editorial calendar that they need to plug as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

Ego-boost goes into overdrive when the person doing the requesting feels that they actually have to sell the idea to me. They’ll talk about size of the audience/readership, demographic or psychographic profiles, monthly traffic and Page Rank. However, the truth of the matter is the very fact my point-of-view is deemed worthy enough to share with someone’s audience is usually reason enough to get me on board.